An integrated MILP-MCDM decision framework for uncertain multi-criteria facilities location problem of glass industries

In existence of interval-valued parameters and managerial limitations, MCDM problems become more complex than their classical versions. In such cases, the classical MCDM techniques are not quite useful solution tools. This study focuses on a MCDM problem to establish the branches of a glass production company in all districts of Iran in existence of interval-valued parameters and managerial limitations. To overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, a typical decision framework is proposed. In the proposed framework, first, an interval Shannon's entropy approach is proposed to find interval criteria weights. Then a full interval TOPSIS approach is proposed to score the potential locations. Finally, using the obtained scores, a mixed integer linear programming model is developed to respect the constraints and find an optimised set of potential locations for the new branches. The proposed decision framework is validated by the real data of the case study and its sensitivity is studied in detail.